Chil ren
AND
Sl ep
By Chirag Pandya, MD
Chirag Pandya, MD,
is the medical
director of the
ValleyCare Sleep
Center and is
board-certified
in sleepmedicine
and pulmonary
and critical care
medicine. He
serves as an
adjunct clinical
faculty member
at Stanford
Sleep Center.
C
hildren’s sleep issues
are some of the most
common problems
parents face. Some children
have chronic sleep di culties,
and many children (like
most adults) are actually
going through their days
sleep-deprived.
HOWMUCH
SLEEP IS ENOUGH?
During school-age years is
usually when children start
a trend toward becoming
sleep-deprived. Children need
somewhere between 9 and
12 hours of sleep at night, but
as parents, you will need to help
gure out how much sleep your
child needs. Your child is getting
the right amount of sleep if he
or she:
Falls asleep within 15 to
30 minutes.
Wakes up easily.
Is awake and alert all
day and doesn’t need a
nap during the day. Check with
your child’s teacher to make
sure your child is able to stay
awake and alert during school.
In other words, if your child
can go to bed, fall asleep easily,
wake up easily and not be tired
during the day, then he or she is
probably getting enough sleep.
KIDS AND SLEEP PROBLEMS
There are a number of issues
that a ect kids and their sleep,
including:
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).
OSAmay include snoring
and waking up while
sleeping, with episodes
of pauses in breathing.
Sleep deprivation.
Not
getting enough sleep can lead
to serious problems for your
child and is all-too-common in
our society.
Night waking.
All children
have times at night when they
sleep more lightly or wake up.
Night waking can become a
problemwhen it’s frequent or
when your child has trouble
getting back to sleep.
Sleep-onset associations/
settling.
This occurs when
whatever children associate
with falling asleep, like being
rocked or a sucking a paci er,
needs to be present for them
to fall back to sleep.
Separation issues.
Your child
may feel anxious if you are not
ValleyCare.com/maternity
1,2,3 5,6,7,8